The Food and Faith Community at UBChttp://www.foodandfaithubc.ca
Discovering the work of the Spirit as the way to fuller lives and a better world.Mon, 27 Nov 2017 21:20:58 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1The Resurrection Tonight!http://www.foodandfaithubc.ca/?p=1175
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Tonight we’ll be looking at the final 2 chapters of John this evening – give chapters 20 and 21 a read if you can. There are 3 accounts of disciples realizing that Jesus is risen:

1. The “Other” disciple who reached the tomb first, sees the empty tomb, remembers what Jesus said and believes. Ch 20:8-9

I missed you all last Monday on our week off – it’s always so long between gatherings when we skip a week! I had a restorative day off – I hope you did, too! I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s gathering. We will be studying John 18-19; these texts are read in their entirety on Good Friday (day Jesus is crucified) each year in the Catholic and Revised Common Lectionary cycles. So if you have attended a Good Friday service in the past, you will have heard these readings.

Please read over John 18-19 if you can in preparation for tomorrow evening. Notice all of the characters in this account of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion – with which character(s) do you identify? Which character(s) can you relate to? The women? The soldiers? Peter? Pilate? Jesus? Malchus?

After tomorrow night we will have 2 more gatherings before the end of the term.

November 27 – conclusion of John . . . the resurrection!

December 3 – end of term party!

We’ll see you for dinner tomorrow night at 5:30 at Epiphany Chapel! The student leaders of F&F will be leading the group in a discussion over dinner of our club constitution – the group will need to decide on some changes to the document. If there is time, we will also talk about what to study next term – give that some thought.

Tomorrow we will be continuing with John 15. I encourage you to read the chapter and any other chapters to get you caught up. Here are some questions for your consideration, compliments of NT Wright:

1. In the first 3 verses of this chapter, what does each element – vine, gardener, branches, fruit – represent?

2. Read Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:8-18. How do these passages shed light on what Jesus is saying about himself as the “true vine”?

3. Branches that decide to “go it alone,” try living without the life of the vine, soon discover their mistake. They wither and die and are good for nothing but the fire. The urgent question, then, is this: How do we “remain” in him? What does this look like in practice?

4. What does Jesus mean when he says that his followers are not “from this world” (v. 19)?

See you tomorrow evening at Epiphany Chapel! Dinner is at 5:30, followed by Bible study!

I’m shocked to look outside and see a bit of dry pavement this afternoon. We’re still in for a wet weekend! I guess it’s a good weekend for studying – lucky you!!

Take a little break from your books and papers to read John 9 and 10. We will be looking at chapter 9 this week (but read 10 to keep up with the story). I have another script for us to read because the story of the blind man who receives sight is another one better understood when we can see the characters interacting.

Here are some questions to get you thinking about the story from NT Wright:

1. In verses 2-5 there is a belief and rebuttal about people born with disabilities – how do these arguments compare with our modern understanding?

2. The synagogue was the focus of the whole community. If you were put out of the synagogue, you’d probably be better off leaving the area altogether. The man’s parents are afraid, because they know the threat against anyone saying Jesus is the Messiah. They are anxious for their social standing, their livelihood, perhaps their lives. How does the way the blind man’s parents respond to the Judeans reflect this fear?

3. Track the progression of belief of the formerly blind man – how and why do his beliefs change?

4. How is verse 41 a complete reversal of where the chapter began?

If you want to come early on Monday to help set up, you’re most welcome! The building is open by 5pm – some of us will be there, putting coffee on and setting the table. We’ll have dinner in Epiphany Chapel at 5:30, followed by Bible study. See you there!

This Monday, October 2nd, is the beginning of Kindness Week at UBC, hosted by the Multifaith Chaplain’s Association. We will be opening our table to UBC students who would like to engage the topic of Kindness with our Bible study.

In preparation for Monday, please read John 5:1-18, a story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. We will work through this story with our Kindness Week guests in a similar way to our previous gatherings this fall. Here are some questions to consider with the text:

– Why does Jesus ask the man lying sick beside the pool if he wants to be made well?

– What is Jesus’ response to the Judeans who confront him about healing on the Sabbath? What does Jesus’ response mean and why does it make his opponents so angry (v. 18)?

Last week we looked at the beginning of John, which emphasizes the closeness between Jesus and God. Jesus is the Word/Verb of God, so by listening to what Jesus says and learning about what he does, we learn about God. So this coming Monday, let’s learn more about God . . .

In preparation for this week, I encourage you to read John chapters 2 and 3, as we will only get to part of the content. Here are some questions to consider from N.T. Wright as we look ahead to our study . . .

John 2:1-12

How is this sign at the wedding an example of the transforming power of God’s love?

John 2:13-25

How might you have responded if you had been a Jew worshiping in the temple on that day?

At this point in your encounters with Jesus through John’s Gospel, what is your response to him and his signs?

John 3:1-21

The Judaism that Nicodemus and Jesus both knew had a good deal to do with being born in to the right family. What mattered was being a child of Abraham. Why did Nicodemus find Jesus’ words so difficult to believe?

In verses 10-13, we have the first of many passages in which Jesus speaks about a new knowledge – indeed a new sort of knowing. What do we learn about this new sort of knowing?

This coming Monday we will be beginning our study of John’s Gospel, what is known as the spiritual gospel. We will be following a study guide by N.T. Wright, who says of John’s gospel, “It gives the appearance of being written by someone who was a very close friend of Jesus, and who spent the rest of his life mulling over more and more deeply, what Jesus has done and said and achieved, praying it through from every angle, and helping others to understand it. Countless people down the centuries have found that, through reading this Gospel, the figure of Jesus becomes real for them, full of light and warmth and promise.” Let us enter this journey with wonder and see how Jesus speaks to us and journeys along side us.

Join us this Monday at 5:30 for dinner, followed by Bible study and worship.

Welcome to the Food & Faith website! We are a group of (mostly) UBC students who eat, study and worship together each week while UBC is in session. We care about being welcoming, progressive theology, supporting each other, hearing a diversity of perspectives and deepening our relationship with God in community. We will be gathering for our first meeting of the 2017-18 school year on Monday, September 11 at 5:30pm. For more information, have a look at our website or email foodandfaithubc@gmail.com or ubccampusminister@gmail.com.

We are busy getting ready for the fall and look forward to connecting with you!

I hope you’ve had a good weekend! We’re getting so close to the end of the term! All my prayers are with you as you study and write!

We poured through the Bible and theology on the Trinity last week and when 7pm came we could have gone on another hour . . . as it was we went on 20 more minutes! So, we’re going to have Trinity part II tomorrow night!

We’re going to cover:

Formation of Trinitarian doctrine

Prayer and worship to a Trinitarian God

God in community

and more, I’m sure!

We’ll gather for dinner as usual at 5:30 and will likely blend worship into the end of our discussion. See you tomorrow night!

The term has flown by! Next week we’ll have our end of term party – we’ll order Indian, Thai or something of that sort and enjoy conversation and/or games – we’ll sort it out tomorrow night.

We had a great gathering last night for the conclusion of Revelation! What an experience it has been studying through the book with you all! A pastor friend of mine asked recently what I like so much about the book of Revelation; here’s what I said:

“I’m reading a great book for our study, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible by Vernard Eller. His book teases out the most beautiful theology, not without problematic sections. Eller’s argument is that Revelation teaches us more about the Christ we know from the gospels, and in that learning we should use the gospels as a guide and check for what we’re learning in revelation – they should be consistent. There are beautiful vignettes that punctuate the structure – between all of the layers of violence and suffering is a loving, awe inspiring God who brings a just love to creation in the end. And the theology along the way has deepened my devotional life, for instance, in chapter 4 there’s a description of the throne room of God with a glassy lake in front . . . the lake across the street from my house froze for most of January and I had some magical walks at dawn on this sacred space that is only available in the dead of winter. Connections like these between life and text bring the book to a whole new level for me.”

During our time in Revelation we came across the Holy Spirit and the Trinity several times in conversation. These topics are often not well covered in the life of the church and are thus nebulous and confusing. We decided a few weeks ago and confirmed last night that talking about the Trinity would be really useful, so that’s what we’re going to cover this coming Monday. I learned recently that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to the Irish – 3 leaves (3 persons of the trinity), 1 shamrock (1 God)! More on that on Monday!

The following Monday we talked about reading one of the shorter minor prophets, like Joel (3 ch), Obadiah (1 ch), Nahum (3 ch), Habakkuk (3 ch), Zephaniah (3 ch), Haggai (2 ch). These are the minor prophets with 3 or fewer chapters. With only one evening to explore it, 3 chapters is more than enough! Is there one of these you’ve always wanted to learn more in depth? Or always troubled you or made you curious? Or we can close our eyes and point to one! : ) We can finalize one on Monday for the following week.

Finally, our last gathering will be on Monday, April 10, the first Monday of finals week. We’ve done a range of things in the past from a fabulous dinner and appreciations to a traditional Scottish dance! It’s your night – I’m open to suggestions! We do have budget for special food, so keep that in mind. Let me know what you’d like to do!